To record a color image, toners or inks of four colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are typically used, for example. Recently, there have been developed and known methods for applying a protective material to give a special effect or the like to a recording medium (refer to Patent Literature 1, for example). Examples of the protective material include a transparent or white special toner that can give a special effect.
Patent Literature 1 describes a configuration that sets the amount of a toner per unit area of a transparent image based on the specification of an image formation mode from a high-gloss image formation mode and a low-gloss image formation mode.
The recording medium to which the special toner is applied has various uses. The conventional technologies may possibly apply the special toner more than necessary to provide a desired special effect and thus apply the special toner more than the amount with which the desired special effect can be provided.
In view of the above, there is a need to provide an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a computer program product that can reduce the amount of consumption of a special toner.